Thomas Hardy

Study question Thomas Hardy

Facts about Thomas Hardy

➾ Hardy was a healthy yet fragile child who showed unusual sensitivity to music and could read almost before walking.

➾ While apprenticed to an architect, Hardy intensely self-studied Greek daily between four and eight in the morning.

➾ His final architectural job, restoring a church in Cornwall, was how he met his first wife, Emma Lavinia Gifford.

➾ Hardy’s first published novel, Desperate Remedies, required him to advance £75, most of which was eventually returned.

➾ He stopped writing novels after the severe critical backlash and controversy caused by the publication of Jude the Obscure.

➾ Hardy often altered novels like Tess to soften his social satire and make them suitable for family readers during magazine serialization.

➾ He believed in ‘meliorism’ (gradual improvement of the world) until 1914, when the horrors of World War I shattered that view.

➾ Hardy’s love for architecture, music, and country folklore was fostered by the varied interests of his stonemason father and reading mother.

➾ Although his first marriage was unhappy, the death of his wife Emma in 1912 prompted him to write some of his most profound poetry.

➾ Hardy secretly wrote his own authorized autobiography, which was later published under the name of his second wife, Florence Dugdale.

➾ Hardy had a divided burial: his ashes were interred in Westminster Abbey while his heart was buried separately at Stinsford near his ancestors.

Thomas Hardy MCQs

1. When was Thomas Hardy born?

A. January 11, 1928
B. September 2, 1840
C. June 2, 1840
D. June 22, 1840

C. June 2, 1840
He was born on this date in Dorset, England.

2. In what location was Thomas Hardy born?

A. Dorchester, Dorset
B. Stinsford, Dorset
C. Higher Bockhampton, Stinsford, Dorset
D. Max Gate, Dorchester

C. Higher Bockhampton, Stinsford, Dorset
He was born in England, in a small cottage in this hamlet, where his father lived.

3. What was the primary business of Thomas Hardy’s father?

A. Farming and agriculture
B. Stone masoning and building
C. Teaching and schooling
D. Church restoration

B. Stone masoning and building
Thomas Hardy Sr. was a master mason and local builder.

4. Hardy was sensitive to which art form, often playing the dance fiddle for his family?

A. Painting
B. Drama
C. Architecture
D. Music

D. Music
Music, particularly local folk music, was a lifelong passion and influence on his writing.

5. Which ancient language did Hardy begin studying at the age of twelve?

A. Greek
B. French
C. Latin
D. German

C. Latin
He began the study of Latin at age twelve.

6. At what age did Hardy become a student of the architect John Hicks?

A. Twelve
B. Sixteen
C. Eighteen
D. Twenty-two

B. Sixteen
He began his apprenticeship in architecture under Hicks in Dorchester in 1856.

7. How did Hardy pursue his Greek studies while apprenticed to Hicks?

A. By attending night classes in Dorchester.
B. By receiving tutoring from John Hicks.
C. By studying between four and eight in the morning.
D. By reading books supplied by George Meredith.

C. By studying between four and eight in the morning.
This commitment to self-education highlights his early intellectual ambition.

8. Which Dorset poet, who kept a school next to Hicks’ office, influenced Hardy?

A. George Meredith
B. Horace Moule
C. Arthur Blomfield
D. The Reverend William Barnes

D. The Reverend William Barnes
Barnes, known for his dialect poetry, encouraged Hardy’s literary interests.

9. In what year did Hardy go to London to work for the architect Arthur Blomfield?

A. 1856
B. 1862
C. 1867
D. 1870

B. 1862
He moved to London to further his architectural career.

10. In what year did ill health force Hardy to leave London and return to Dorchester?

A. 1865
B. 1867
C. 1870
D. 1874

B. 1867
London life proved detrimental to his health, forcing him back to Dorset.

11. What was the title of Hardy’s first novel, which was rejected by publishers?

A. Desperate Remedies
B. Under the Greenwood Tree
C. The Poor Man and the Lady
D. A Pair of Blue Eyes

C. The Poor Man and the Lady
This novel, never published, dealt with social class and romantic ambition.

12. Which critic advised Hardy regarding his first rejected novel?

A. Horace Moule
B. Arthur Blomfield
C. George Meredith
D. The Reverend William Barnes

C. George Meredith
Meredith, working as a reader for Chapman and Hall, recommended Hardy abandon the book but try again.

13. Where did Hardy meet his first wife, Emma, while on a restoration job?

A. Higher Bockhampton
B. Weymouth
C. St. Juliot in Cornwall
D. Max Gate

C. St. Juliot in Cornwall
He met Emma Gifford in 1870 while surveying the restoration of a church there.

14. In what year did Thomas Hardy marry Emma Lavinia Gifford?

A. 1870
B. 1871
C. 1874
D. 1878

C. 1874
They married in London, coinciding with the success of Far From the Madding Crowd.

15. What was the title of Hardy’s first published novel in 1871?

A. Under the Greenwood Tree
B. Desperate Remedies
C. The Return of the Native
D. Far From the Madding Crowd

B. Desperate Remedies
This complex melodrama was his first novel to reach publication.

16. Which 1872 novel was Hardy’s first popular success?

A. A Pair of Blue Eyes
B. The Poor Man and the Lady
C. Under the Greenwood Tree
D. Tess of the d’Urbervilles

C. Under the Greenwood Tree
This gentle novel was his second published work and proved popular with critics and readers.

17. Which 1874 novel’s success allowed Hardy to give up architecture?

A. Desperate Remedies
B. The Mayor of Casterbridge
C. Far From the Madding Crowd
D. The Woodlanders

C. Far From the Madding Crowd
Its serialization in the Cornhill Magazine and subsequent popularity allowed him to dedicate himself entirely to writing.

18. For how many years did Hardy primarily concentrate on writing fiction?

A. Five years
B. Ten years
C. Fifteen years
D. Twenty years

D. Twenty years
He concentrated primarily on writing novels from 1870 until 1891 (Tess) and 1895 (Jude).

19. What fictional region did Hardy create for his novels?

A. Casterbridge
B. Stinsford
C. Wessex
D. Egdon Heath

C. Wessex
He named his fictionalized version of Dorset and the surrounding counties “Wessex,” drawing on Anglo-Saxon history.

20. Which 1878 novel was admired for its setting of Egdon Heath?

A. The Woodlanders
B. A Laodicean
C. The Return of the Native
D. Two on a Tower

C. The Return of the Native
Egdon Heath, the desolate, ancient landscape, functions almost as a character in this novel.

21. What was the name of the house Hardy built near Dorchester?

A. Stinsford Cottage
B. Egdon Hall
C. Max Gate
D. Casterbridge Manor

C. Max Gate
He designed and built this home where he lived for the rest of his life.

22. Which novel, set in a fictionalized Dorchester, features Michael Henchard?

A. The Return of the Native
B. The Woodlanders
C. The Mayor of Casterbridge
D. A Pair of Blue Eyes

C. The Mayor of Casterbridge
The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886) centers on the tragic rise and fall of the self-made Michael Henchard in the town of Casterbridge (Dorchester).

23. In what year did Tess of the d’Urbervilles begin its serial run?

A. 1889
B. 1891
C. 1894
D. 1897

B. 1891
It was serialized with modifications due to the controversial content.

24. Which novel’s controversy caused Hardy to abandon novel writing?

A. Tess of the d’Urbervilles
B. Far From the Madding Crowd
C. The Well Beloved
D. Jude the Obscure

D. Jude the Obscure
The vicious public outcry and moral outrage following the publication of Jude the Obscure (1895) led him to stop writing novels entirely.

25. What was the title of Hardy’s last novel, published in 1897?

A. Jude the Obscure
B. The Well Beloved
C. Tess of the d’Urbervilles
D. The Woodlanders

B. The Well Beloved
Although Jude the Obscure (1895) was his last major novel, The Well-Beloved was his final published novel.

26. What was the title of Hardy’s first volume of poetry, published in 1898?

A. Late Lyrics and Earlier
B. Winter Words
C. Wessex Poems
D. Satires of Circumstance

C. Wessex Poems
This collection, published after he abandoned fiction, marked his full-time return to poetry.

27. What was the title of his three-part epic verse drama on the Napoleonic Wars?

A. Winter Words
B. The Dynasts
C. Poems of 1912–13
D. Wessex Tales

B. The Dynasts
This monumental work (1903–08) is a blend of poetry and drama.

28. What major honour did the King award Hardy in 1910?

A. Knight Commander of the Bath
B. Poet Laureate
C. The Order of Merit
D. The Nobel Prize in Literature

C. The Order of Merit
King George V appointed him to the Order of Merit, a high civilian honour.

29. When did Hardy’s first wife, Emma, die?

A. 1910
B. 1912
C. 1914
D. 1928

B. 1912
Emma died suddenly in November 1912, inspiring his most poignant love poems (Poems of 1912–13).

30. Whom did Hardy marry in 1914?

A. Jemima Hand
B. Florence Emily Dugdale
C. Grace Melbury
D. Eustacia Vye

B. Florence Emily Dugdale
He married his secretary, Florence Dugdale, in 1914.

31. What was the title of Hardy’s final volume of verse?

A. Late Lyrics and Earlier
B. Human Shows
C. Winter Words
D. Moments of Vision

C. Winter Words
This final collection was published in 1928, the year of his death.

32. On what date did Thomas Hardy die?

A. June 2, 1840
B. January 11, 1928
C. September 4, 1874
D. December 31, 1927

B. January 11, 1928
He died on this date at Max Gate.

33. Where were Hardy’s cremated remains interred?

A. Max Gate, Dorchester
B. Stinsford Churchyard
C. Westminster Abbey, Poets’ Corner
D. St. Juliot, Cornwall

C. Westminster Abbey, Poets’ Corner
His ashes were interred in Poets’ Corner, a high honour.

34. Where was Hardy’s heart buried?

A. Max Gate, Dorchester
B. Stinsford, near the graves of his ancestors
C. Poets’ Corner
D. St. Juliot in Cornwall

B. Stinsford, near the graves of his ancestors
His heart was removed and buried separately in the churchyard where he had played the fiddle as a young man.

35. Hardy published his novels in serial form, similar to which other English novelist?

A. Scott
B. Dumas
C. Dickens
D. Keats

C. Dickens
Like Charles Dickens, Hardy serialized many of his novels in monthly or weekly magazines.

36. Which collection was the first that Hardy released?

A. Life’s Little Ironies
B. A Changed Man
C. A Group of Noble Dames
D. Wessex Tales

D. Wessex Tales
This collection of short stories was published in 1888.

37. His mother inspired a taste for literature, while his father shared a love of architecture and what?

A. Science
B. Philosophy
C. Music
D. Theology

C. Music
Both parents fostered his cultural interests.

38. Darwinian evolutionism eventually made Hardy what?

A. A Meliorist
B. A severe critic of traditional religion/An agnostic
C. A fatalist
D. A church restorer

B. A severe critic of traditional religion/An agnostic
Scientific theories contributed to his loss of faith in a beneficent God.

39. Hardy lived during the industrial revolution, which led to the disintegration of what?

A. The British empire
B. The family building business
C. Rural customs and traditions
D. The London architectural scene

C. Rural customs and traditions
His novels often lament the passing of the traditional agricultural way of life.

40. The period of changing beliefs in Hardy’s time brought about what feeling?

A. The joy of modernism
B. The ‘ache of modernism’
C. The pursuit of happiness
D. The Immanent Will

B. The ‘ache of modernism’
He coined this phrase to describe the spiritual and existential pain resulting from the erosion of old beliefs.

41. Hardy read Darwin’s Origin of the Species and what other document that influenced his religious views?

A. The Dynasts
B. Wessex Poems
C. Essays and Reviews
D. A Changed Man

C. Essays and Reviews
This publication of liberal theology further challenged traditional Christian doctrines.

42. Hardy struggled to reconcile a beneficent God with the existence of what?

A. The inevitability of war
B. Omnipresent evil and unhappiness
C. The shifting of population
D. The success of his own novels

B. Omnipresent evil and unhappiness
The problem of suffering became central to his philosophical outlook.

43. Until 1914, Hardy considered himself a “meliorist,” believing that what was happening?

A. The universal scheme was unchanging.
B. The universe was completely governed by Fate.
C. The universal scheme was gradually improving.
D. Only poetry could capture human suffering.

C. The universal scheme was gradually improving.
Meliorism is the belief that the world can be made better through human effort.

44. What event shattered Hardy’s belief in meliorism in 1914?

A. The death of his first wife
B. The reaction to Jude the Obscure
C. The absurdity and horror of war
D. The publication of The Dynasts

C. The absurdity and horror of war
The outbreak of World War I made the idea of gradual moral improvement seem impossible.

45. What philosophical outlook is most readily associated with Hardy the novelist?

A. Meliorism
B. Naturalism
C. Romanticism
D. Fatalism

D. Fatalism
Although he considered himself a meliorist, his novels’ pervasive sense of doomed protagonists and tragic coincidence leads critics to label his work as fatalistic.

46. In Hardy’s philosophy, what motif is placed with tremendous importance?

A. Love
B. Nature
C. Time
D. Night

C. Time
His works often focus on the corrosive effects of the past and the relentlessness of time.

47. In Hardy’s philosophy, who is Fate’s most potent instrument against Man’s happiness?

A. The Wessex rustic
B. The Critic
C. Woman
D. The Deity

C. Woman
Hardy’s perception of women (e.g., Sue Bridehead, Tess) as unpredictable and often destructive forces is a recurring idea.

48. Hardy critiques ‘Convention and Law’ because they are contrived by whom, yet work against him?

A. Cruel Nature
B. The Immanent Will
C. Man himself
D. The established Church

C. Man himself
He argues that rigid social laws created by humanity often cause unnecessary suffering to the individuals they are meant to govern.

49. Hardy suggests that most of Tess’s misery was generated by her conventional aspect, and not by what?

A. Angel Clare’s judgment
B. Her innate sensations
C. Alec’s evil intentions
D. The agricultural life

B. Her innate sensations
He frames Tess as a pure woman whose suffering is caused by the cruel social conventions and judgments of others.

50. In The Dynasts, Hardy projects a universe governed by a blind force called what?

A. Fate
B. The Spirit of the Years
C. The Immanent Will
D. The Wessex destiny

C. The Immanent Will
This term refers to the unconscious, indifferent cosmic force that drives the universe, often resulting in human suffering.

Under the Greenwood Tree MCQs

1. What sound do fir-trees make in the breeze?

A. Whistle and moan
B. Sob and moan
C. Hiss and quiver
D. Rise and fall

B. Sob and moan.
At the passing of the breeze, the fir-trees distinctively sob and moan, unlike the holly, ash, or beech.

2. What season does the novel begin in?

A. Spring
B. Autumn
C. Summer
D. Winter

D. Winter.
The first chapter opens with a description of trees in winter on a cold and starry Christmas Eve.

3. Who is the young man heard singing in Mellstock Lane?

A. Michael Mail
B. Robert Penny
C. Dick Dewy
D. Elias Spinks

C. Dick Dewy.
Michael Mail calls out, asking if the person singing is “young Dick Dewy,” who then replies affirmatively.

4. What group did the emerging five men represent?

A. Lewgate villagers
B. Mellstock parish choir
C. Tranter’s family
D. Assyrian procession

B. Mellstock parish choir.
The five men who emerged from the grove represented the chief portion of Mellstock parish choir.

5. What musical instrument was Michael Mail carrying?

A. A bass-viol
B. A walking stick
C. A fiddle
D. A lantern

C. A fiddle.
Michael Mail, the first of the group to emerge, is described as carrying a fiddle under his arm.

6. What is Mr Robert Penny’s occupation?

A. Carrier
B. Game-keeper
C. Boot and shoe-maker
D. Musician

C. Boot and shoe-maker.
Mr Robert Penny is specifically identified as the boot-and-shoe-maker among the working villagers of Mellstock.

7. Who is characterized as a weak, lath-like form?

A. Elias Spinks
B. Thomas Leaf
C. Joseph Bowman
D. Reuben Dewy

B. Thomas Leaf.
Thomas Leaf is introduced as a weak, lath-like form who was awkward because he had grown very fast.

8. What is Reuben Dewey’s vocation?

A. Boot-maker
B. Churchwarden
C. Tranter
D. Fiddler

C. Tranter.
Dick Dewy’s father, Reuben, is identified by the vocation of ‘tranter’, meaning he is an irregular carrier.

9. What prominent Christmas decoration hung in Dewy’s main room?

A. Holly
B. Ivy
C. Mistletoe
D. Candles

C. Mistletoe.
A huge piece of mistletoe hung from the main beam, so large a person had to walk around it.

10. What was Charley Dewy doing while crying?

A. Holding a looking-glass
B. Eating cake
C. Smoothing Bessy’s hair
D. Sitting in the seat

A. Holding a looking-glass.
Charley was holding a looking-glass up to his face to examine his countenance while engaged in crying.

11. Who stated that watered cider is too common?

A. Reuben Dewy
B. Elias Spinks
C. Michael Mail
D. Joseph Bowman

D. Joseph Bowman.
Bowman remarked that watered cider is too common among them, although Spinks quickly agreed.

12. What item did Reuben Dewy say Sam Lawson cheated him on?

A. Fiddle
B. Barrel
C. Last
D. Cider

B. Barrel.
Reuben claimed that Sam Lawson, “póor old heart!”, took him in completely on the deal for buying an old cask.

13. What did Michael Mail nearly have to pay for after nodding?

A. A cider cask
B. A feather-bed
C. A last
D. A fiddle

B. A feather-bed.
Michael Mail nodded to an auctioneer, who then knocked down a feather-bed, bolster, and pillows to him.

14. What two activities did Reuben say his father loved most?

A. Cleaving wood and playing viol
B. Drinking cider and tapping barrels
C. Singing tunes and cutting timber
D. Mending shoes and talking

A. Cleaving wood and playing viol.
Reuben stated that his father would pass his life between cleaving old dead apple-tree wood and playing the bass-viol.

15. What was grandfather William’s musical role?

A. Treble violin
B. Second violin
C. Bass
D. Tenor

C. Bass.
Old William Dewey, or grandfather William, played the bass part using the violoncello for the choir.

16. What was grandfather James’s occupation?

A. Tranter
B. Mason
C. Bootmaker
D. Teacher

B. Mason.
Grandfather James, the maternal grandfather, wore a linen apron, corduroy breeches, and gaiters, being a mason by trade.

17. What did the shoe last for Geoffrey Day’s father show?

A. Broken leg
B. Bunion
C. Squashed foot
D. Missing toes

B. Bunion.
Mr Penny pointed out a lump of leather braided to the toe of the last to account for a bad bunion.

18. Whose newly mended boot did Mr Penny display?

A. Mrs Dewy’s
B. Fancy Day’s
C. Mrs Brownjohn’s
D. Elias Spinks’s

B. Fancy Day’s.
Mr Penny showed off a small, pretty boot belonging to Miss Fancy Day, the new schoolmistress.

19. Who claimed they could discern a man’s heart by his foot?

A. Elias Spinks
B. Robert Penny
C. Reuben Dewy
D. Michael Mail

A. Elias Spinks.
Mr Spinks boasted that he knew little, but could tell a man’s heart simply by seeing his foot.

20. What instruments were used for the bass part in the choir?

A. Violoncello
B. Clar’net
C. Serpent
D. Organ

A. Violoncello.
Old William Dewey, who played the bass, used the violoncello as one of the stringed instruments.

21. What instrument did the members condemn as “death”?

A. Fiddle
B. Bass-viol
C. Clar’nets
D. Flute

C. Clar’nets.
The choir members agreed that “clarinets were death” to musical religion, having ruined other choirs.

22. What was the ancient hymn first sung at the schoolhouse?

A. The Morning Star
B. Rejoice, ye tenants
C. Remember Adam’s fall
D. O, what unbounded goodness

C. Remember Adam’s fall.
The choir first sang “Remember Adam’s fall, O thou man,” an ancient and well-worn hymn.

23. What did the young girl (Fancy Day) hold up to her face?

A. A violin
B. A looking-glass
C. A candle
D. A music book

C. A candle.
Fancy Day held a candle in her left hand, illuminating her face to the thirty concentrated eyes of the choir.

24. What was Dick Dewy’s immediate reaction to seeing Fancy Day?

A. Angry
B. Embarrassed
C. How pretty
D. Indifferent

C. How pretty.
Immediately after Fancy closed the window, Dick exclaimed, “How pretty!”.

25. What was Farmer Shinar’s official position in the church?

A. Vicar
B. Sexton
C. Churchwarden
D. Treble singer

C. Churchwarden.
After Shinar yelled at the choir, old William noted that such behavior was dreadful, “And he a churchwarden!”.

26. How did Mr Maybold (the vicar) respond to the choir’s carol?

A. Opened the window
B. Made no stir
C. Sent his maid
D. Shouted thanks

D. Shouted thanks.
The vicar shouted “Thanks, villagers!” from the inner depths of his bedclothes.

27. What disruption occurred during the Christmas morning service?

A. Fiddles broke
B. Feminine voices
C. Organ music began
D. A fight broke out

B. Feminine voices.
A strong and shrill reinforcement of unexpected feminine voices came from the school-girls’ aisle.

28. Who ironically referred to the choir members as “useless ones”?

A. Mr Penny
B. Thomas Leaf
C. Mr Spinks
D. Old William

C. Mr Spinks.
Mr Spinks used the phrase “useless ones” to express his intense indignation and bitterness regarding the disruption.

29. Who was Fancy Day’s dancing partner immediately after Dick?

A. Mr Penny
B. Michael Mail
C. Mr Shinar
D. Reuben Dewy

C. Mr Shinar.
In the dance ‘Triumph’, Dick had to relinquish Fancy, who then went down the middle with Mr Shinar.

30. Who did Mrs Penny marry after parting from John Wildway?

A. Dick Dewy
B. Mr Penny
C. Reuben Dewy
D. Geoffrey Day

B. Mr Penny.
Mrs Penny explained that after she and John Wildway parted, Mr Penny asked her to “go snacks with him”.

31. What animal part did Michael Mail eat while chawing to the band’s time?

A. Ham and bread
B. Liver and lights
C. Pickles and cheese
D. Roast mutton

B. Liver and lights.
Michael Mail recalled eating fried liver and lights and found himself automatically chawing to the brass band’s rhythm.

32. What musical change did Mr Maybold want to introduce?

A. A better fiddle
B. A new set of carols
C. An organ
D. A harmonium

C. An organ.
Mr Maybold told the choir that he owned an organ, which was waiting to be introduced into the church.

33. Which churchwarden was eager for Fancy Day to play the organ?

A. Reuben Dewy
B. Mr Shinar
C. Old William
D. Mr Penny

B. Mr Shinar.
The vicar admitted that Mr Shinar had repeatedly suggested Fancy Day as the organ player.

34. When did Mr Maybold suggest the choir change should take place?

A. Next Christmas
B. The next Sunday
C. Next Michaelmas
D. Immediately

C. Next Michaelmas.
Mr Maybold compromised, setting the change for Michaelmas (around September), rather than immediately or at Christmas.

35. What unique furniture item did Geoffrey Day’s house contain duplicates of?

A. Kitchen dressers
B. Eight-day clocks
C. Tin canisters
D. Garden chairs

B. Eight-day clocks.
Geoffrey Day’s house held two rival eight-day clocks, one by Thomas Wood and one by Ezekiel Sparrowgrass.

36. What physical feature of Geoffrey Day resulted from a fight?

A. Fissured face
B. Broken fingers
C. Thrown back nose
D. Missing eye

C. Thrown back nose.
Geoffrey’s nose had been thrown backwards by a blow sustained in a poaching fray.

37. What did Fancy say when Dick asked if she cared about him?

A. She didn’t know
B. Yes, very much
C. No, she hated him
D. She loved Shinar

A. She didn’t know.
Dick reported to his father that Fancy replied “she didn’t know” when he asked if she cared for him.

38. What tone did Dick adopt for his second letter to Fancy?

A. Heartless man-of-the-world
B. Desperate and loving
C. Apologetic and kind
D. Angry and firm

A. Heartless man-of-the-world.
Dick decided the juncture required a “heartless man-of-the-world tone” to check her sincerity.

39. Where did Dick encounter Fancy Day waiting for the carrier?

A. Mellstock Cross
B. Budmouth
C. Yalbury Wood
D. Casterbridge

B. Budmouth.
Dick was driving out of Budmouth when he saw Fancy waiting there for the carrier.

40. What did Fancy repeatedly forbid Dick from doing during their ride?

A. Singing
B. Talking
C. Touching her
D. Driving fast

C. Touching her.
Fancy strictly told Dick “no flirtation” and “no touching, sir!” during their conversation along the road.

41. Why was Geoffrey Day originally opposed to Dick marrying Fancy?

A. Dick was too old
B. Dick was too rich
C. Dick was penniless
D. Fancy was too young

C. Dick was penniless.
Geoffrey stated his ambition was for Fancy to marry a gentleman equal to her in polish and pocket, which excluded the ‘penniless Dick’.

42. How did Fancy try to make Dick jealous?

A. Wrote a letter
B. Danced with Shinar
C. Caught bullfinches
D. Criticized his clothes

C. Caught bullfinches.
Fancy confessed that Mr Shinar offered to show her how to catch bullfinches by the stream, and she agreed.

43. Why did Dick go nutting without Fancy?

A. He was angry
B. She was busy sewing
C. She went with Shinar
D. He forgot her

B. She was busy sewing.
Fancy delayed the nutting trip for hours to alter her blue dress, making Dick furious at the wasted time.

44. What did Elizabeth Endorfield claim would break her witch spell?

A. Acting stupidly
B. Going to church
C. Eating butter
D. Confessing love

A. Acting stupidly.
The witch stated the spell was worked by common sense, and acting stupidly would break it.

45. How did Fancy demonstrate her sorrow to force her father’s consent?

A. Crying heavily
B. Refusing to speak
C. Eating very little
D. Staying indoors

C. Eating very little.
Fancy barely ate, cutting only a “diaphanous slice” of bread, to make her father worry about her health.

46. Why did Dick not have an umbrella when visiting Fancy after the funeral?

A. He forgot it
B. He broke it
C. It was lent to women
D. He preferred the rain

C. It was lent to women.
Dick explained to Fancy that the men had lent all the umbrellas to the women at the funeral.

47. What did the vicar tear up and throw into the river?

A. Dick’s card
B. Fancy’s letter
C. His letter to Yorkshire
D. The marriage banns

C. His letter to Yorkshire.
After learning of Fancy’s engagement to Dick, Maybold tore up the letter he had just written to arrange a living exchange.

48. What did Fancy reveal was a motivation for accepting Mr Maybold’s proposal?

A. Dick’s meanness
B. Her great poverty
C. Love of refinement
D. Desire for travel

C. Love of refinement.
Fancy confessed that her love for refinement, elegance, and praise, motivated her rash acceptance of the vicar.

49. What delay kept Dick from being on time for his wedding?

A. A làme horse
B. A forgotten suit
C. Swarming bees
D. Arguing with Fancy

C. Swarming bees.
Dick was delayed because the hive of bees his mother gave him swarmed just as he was starting for the wedding.

50. According to the critical essay, what is the love story primarily framed by?

A. The vicar’s malice
B. The Mellstock Quire
C. Rural poverty
D. The Dewy family curse

B. The Mellstock Quire.
Hardy’s original intention was to title the novel The Mellstock Quire, reflecting its foundational role in the story.

Brief Overview

Under the Greenwood Tree is a novel by Thomas Hardy. It was published anonymously in 1872. The novel is a pastoral work that idealizes rural life while also examining the tensions between tradition and modernity in the English countryside.

The story opens on a starry Christmas Eve. Dick Dewy, a handsome young man, joins the Mellstock parish choir for carols. Dick sees Fancy Day, the new schoolmistress, at her window and immediately falls in love with her.

A conflict arises when the new vicar, Mr. Maybold, decides to replace the old string choir with an organ. Fancy is chosen to be the organist. Dick secretly begins courting Fancy. Fancy’s father, Geoffrey Day, strongly opposes the match, wanting his daughter to marry a gentleman of wealth.

The richer Mr. Shinar briefly tempts Fancy. Later, Mr. Maybold proposes marriage to Fancy. She accepts his proposal, motivated by vanity and ambition. Dick tells the vicar they are engaged, and the vicar honorably releases Fancy from her promise.

To gain her father’s consent, Fancy pretends to fall seriously ill from sorrow over the situation. Geoffrey gives in, fearing his daughter will die if he continues to refuse. Dick and Fancy marry in the spring, and the wedding party celebrates with music and dancing under an old beech tree.